-=> Quoting Danny Ceppa to Nancy Backus on 12-10-05  15:53 <=-   
      
    NB> When the Public Radio stations first started, they got a great deal of   
    NB> federal and state funding, but I think that even from the beginning   
    NB> there also had to be a substantial amount of community support of all   
    NB> sorts.  The station here (actually a conglom of AM FM TV and service   
      
    DC> I think it's 5% or less now.  That's why there are so many    
    DC> pledge drives now.     
      
   Dunno what the percentage is...  Here they haven't changed how many   
   times a year they do the drives, but the amount they are aiming for is   
   WAY higher!  And they DO run them longer, as well.  We have 3/yr, for   
   the combined AM/FM stations.  Not sure how many TV has, as I don't watch   
   TV, even PBS.  I can remember the days when a pledge drive, then called   
   a marathon, would only be for a weekend, and they'd be looking to raise   
   $5K, maybe stretch and ask for $10K...   Now, they get that and more in   
   a single day, possibly in a single shift!  And they are aiming for over   
   $100K per drive, even for radio now.  At one point the drives were close   
   to 2 weeks... no matter how frantic the announcers got, there was always   
   a major lull in the middle of the period, so they've come back to 10   
   days or less... I think the last one was 8 days.   
      
   Besides the pledge drives, TV has always had an annual auction.  I   
   remember a friend in college being glued to his TV set during the   
   auction, hoping to snag bargains...  :)   Nowadays, they run that one on   
   their website, and advertise it all over the radio and TV...  How times   
   change!   :)   
      
   ttyl       neb   
      
   ... Young at heart... slightly older in other places.   
      
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